Web3 startup aPriori has secured $20 million to enhance its trading infrastructure platform, aiming to integrate high-frequency trading (HFT) onchain while addressing both technical and market challenges within decentralized finance (DeFi). This funding round comes amidst increasing interest from institutional investors in DeFi as a viable source of yield.
The financing round saw contributions from Pantera Capital, HashKey Capital, Primitive Ventures, IMC Trading, Gate Labs, among others, elevating the company’s total funding to $30 million.
Established in 2023, this San Francisco-based company was founded by former quant traders and engineers seasoned in firms like Coinbase, Jump Trading, and Citadel Securities.
The aPriori platform is designed to resolve various issues in onchain markets, including significant spreads, miner extractable value (MEV) leakage, and toxic order flow. In traditional finance, toxic order flow describes trading actions that place market makers or liquidity providers at risk of adverse selection.
aPriori is part of an increasing number of startups aiming to create institutional-grade trading infrastructure onchain. Earlier this year, Theo raised $20 million from investors like Citadel, Jane Street, and JPMorgan to develop onchain high-frequency trading and market-making strategies.
Other platforms pursuing similar goals include Aevo (formerly Ribbon), focusing on derivatives and options infrastructure, the decentralized exchange dYdX, and Cega, which is innovating structured products for onchain markets.
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Institutional momentum toward onchain markets continues to grow
Favorable regulatory changes, the perceived advantages of blockchain technology, and rising yield opportunities in DeFi have prompted more institutions to venture into onchain markets. This transition has driven up demand for institutional-grade trading infrastructure.
Decentralized markets have also indicated they might offer higher returns compared to traditional money markets, attracting yield-seeking institutional investors. For example, RWA.xyz reports that tokenized private credit markets currently yield an average annual percentage rate (APR) of 9.76%.
This portion of the tokenization market is valued at roughly $15.6 billion, comprising over half of all onchain tokenized activity.
Simultaneously, major institutions are exploring crypto-aligned strategies. For instance, JPMorgan Asset Management recently allocated up to $500 million to Numerai, an AI-driven hedge fund that crowdsources trading models.
Numerai, which introduced one of the earliest native tokens in 2017, illustrates the convergence of quantitative finance and blockchain.
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